The Eastern Busway 1 portion of the comprehensive AMETI suite of projects involves an upgrade from Panmure Roundabout through to Ti Rakau Drive. A very narrow corridor in some places, some very major intersections, and a tidal-flow bridge all make for a complex and demanding upgrade project requiring detailed staging and coordination and some complex traffic modelling.
Numerous projects make up Auckland Airport’s extensive infrastructure programme over the next 10 years and beyond. One of these is the widening and improvement of the SH20A corridor leading into Tom Pierce Drive. Despite a scaling back of projects due to COVID-19 – this project will still continue albeit in a reduced capacity.
This major State Highway upgrade (part of the “Roads of National Significance”) utilises the Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract model and requires colossal earthworks and Greenfields road construction over a 20km+ length. Most site access is conducted off State Highway 1 and with volumes above 20,000 vehicles per day on regular occasions – safety is critical – complex geometric and site-specific signage solutions were necessary.
The new 2.5 km long pipe is part of the Northern Corridor Improvements Project, worked on jointly by Watercare and the NZ Transport Agency and sits in the lower section of the bridge spanning 110m. The upper portion is a new walkway/cycleway and provides better access to Albany Station and the nearby business district.
This new project (2020) commences a much needed upgrade of the SH20B corridor from Manukau to Auckland Airport. The dual-directional 2-lane road has high volume but spatial constraints make the widening and safety improvements extremely challenging. Coupled with a need to ensure continued throughput of time-sensitive vehicles, the staging and traffic engineering challenges of this project demand some extensive experience.